Garage



March 31, 1925.

M. D. EAST GARAGE Fiied Sept. 2, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 (1cm new March 31, 1925.

M. D. EAST GARAGE 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept 2 Mose D. Ed

M. D. EAST March 31. 1925.

GARAGE Filed 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 @313 Mose 8- E452 flfw ff UDUDUUD March 31, 1925. I 1,531,599

MLD. EAST GARAGE Filed Sept. 2, 1924' 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 i U Mose 19. gas? Patented Miner, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

HOSE D. EAST, OF SEATTLE, WABHINGTOK.

GARAGE.

Application m September 2, 1924. 861181, m. 735,841.

ToYaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,Mosn D. Earn, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and resident of the city of Seattle, in the county of 3 King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements n Garages, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its chief ob ect the m provision of a structure which is accesslble throughout to automobiles, and in WlllCll all available ground space will be economically- -used for storage, either of goods or automobiles.

15 In modern cities the problem of roviding suflicient space for storage 0 goods handled b automobile trucks, for storage of automo iles themselves, and for terminal facilities for persons traveling in automobile 1 stages, in accessible locations, has become a serious one. Convenient locations for such purposes are always in districts where ground space is at a premium, and where if available at all it is very expensive. It is therefore essential to obtain the maximum of available space, for terminal purposes, for storage, or for parking cars, upon the minimum ground space. It is a most important object of my invention to provide such able floor space for each story to more than the ground floor area of the lot on which the structure is built.

A further important object is the provision of a system of ramps or runways which will facilitate communication between all parts of the structure and which will facilitate the control and flow of traflic through the building, to the end of avoiding confusion and of movingthe maximum number of cars in the minimum of time.

A further object is the provision of such a structure and ramps for communication therein, wherein the ramps and the necessary passagewa s require the minimum of space so that al possible space is conserved for storage of cars.

Other objects, and especially objects which have particular reference to details of construction and arrangement may be ascertained from a study of the drawings, wherein m invention is shown in its present preferred orms, and of the following specia structure which will increase the avail-- fication and the claims terminating the same, which define the scope of my invention.

Figure 1 is an isometric view of such a structure, away to il thereof. 1 Figure 2 is a typical floor plan of a double unit type of garage.

Figure 3 is a vertical section through such ustrate the interior arrangement a building as is illustrated in Figure 2, a

part being broken back to show a section approximately on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical section on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 3, showmg a single unit of my structure in-' tended for erection upon a smaller lot.

In modern cities it is essential that .structures be provided for-storing cars off the streets and in such a way that they are available at all times without confusion and without serious delay. Attempts have been made. to provide such storage garages, but a given lot, according to plans used heretofore, will accommodate only such multiples of the lot area as there may be stories. Further, it has been found impracticable to provide gara es havin more than two or three stories ,o height, or the reason that elevator carriage of automobiles from street to upper stories is slow, inconvenient, and expensive, and therefore impractical, and for the further reason that no system; of ramps has heretofore been devised which would afford easy communiarts of the walls being broken cation from street to any of the upper stories I and which would at the same time provide for as man cars as might desire to move in or out at t e same time, without confusion and without enormous wastage of storage space. Heretofore a single ramp has generally been provided to accommodate both upward and downward trafiic, that is, cars in at one side wall and the ramp to the story above leading out at the adjacent side wall. The storage s ace necessary to make the garage a profita ble investment is thus seriously reduced, because two sides of each floor are largely given' up "to ramps.'

By my invention the storage space equivalent to a building on a 210 oot lot, for exam le, can .be secured upon a lot having a wi th of only 160 feet, without loss of proper clearance and ventilation, with an increase of convenience and safety in the handling of cars, and with a considerable decrease in the floorspace necessary for passageways, thus in all ways increasing the storage space and at the same time making every car immediately accessible and easily removable from the building and easily placed in its stall.

These results are accomplished by overlapping the stories, that is to say, by dividing each story into sections, and placi these sectional or half stories at levels whi dh will permit one half story to overlap the necessary for proper ventilation and light.

This can best be illustrated by reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 of these drawings is an isometric view of a storage garage which may be taken as a single unit, and which is also illustrated in vertical section in Figure 5. The structure proper consists of surrounding walls, the wall 1 being designated the front wall for convenience, and the wall 10 the rear wall, the front wall or a side wall 12 having one or more entrances'll at the ground level G. Extending from the front wall 1 toward .the rear wall 10, but terminating short thereof, are the several stories 2, above theground floor 20. As stated above, these stories 2 do not extend entirely throu h the building from the front tothe rear wa but terminate short of the rear wall. Extending forward from the rear wall, however, toward the front wall, but as in the case of the stories 2 terminating short of the front Wall, are halfstories 3. The inner edges 21 of the stories 2 lie within the inner edges 31 of the stories- 3, that is to say, the stories overlap to an extent sufiicient to provide storage space be tween the overlapping portions of the stories. Thus in effect each story 2 and half-story 3 together form one complete floor, and are s aced above the one next thereabove or next erebelow the height of a half story, and in the overlapping space thus rovided two cars can be stored instead 0 one, so that the space gained in this way is the space occupied by one car, multiplied by the number -of s aces possible throughout the length of the uildin'g, that is between the side walls 12.

It is necessary,- of course, to communicate between the several stories and half stories, and for this purpose ramps are provided, generally arranged in pairs and preferably lyin not adjacent the side walls of the buil' ing, but inwardly therefrom. Preferably, also, two complete series of ramps are employed and each series will lead a car from the round floor upward to any upper story, or ownward therefrom, without, the necessity of using ramps of the other series, so that two entrances may be employed, thus avoiding congestion at any one entrance, yet without increasing undesirably the space allotted to ramps. Further, I place the ramps in the overlapping portion of the floors, at an edge of each story or half-story, where the space they take up is less than if they were positioned outwardly of the edges of the floor sections. From a given line of departure on any floor, inward of its inner edge 21 or 31, the ramps of a pair lead upward to the next floor and'downwa'rd to the floor below.

As shown, a ramp 40 affords communication between the trance 11, an the lowermost half-story 3. A com anion ram 4, formin the other ramp of t e air an placed a jacent theramp 40, lea s upward from the-story 3 to the first. or lowermost of the stories 2. The ramp 4, however, is not intendedfor use of a car which reaches the story 3 from the companion ram 40, but rather it is intended for cars descen ing from the lowermost story 2 to the half-story 3. Cars ascending-to the half-story 3 by means of a ramp 40, instead of using the companion ramp 4 for ascending further to the sto 2, pass alolig a passageway 41 (as showny the arrow to the next pair of ramps, where it may ascend to the story 2by means of a ram 4', situated there. Cars descendin from t e story 2 to the half-story 3 use tfi move alon a passageway 41, as shown by the arrow T, to the ramp 40 which is the companion ramp of the ramp 4, and by this descend to a lower floor 20. Movement on the floor 2 in ascending or descending takes place in the direction of the arrows A and A, ascending and descending, re ectively, moving along the aisle 42 provide on these ound floor 20 having an en-,

e ramp 4 and then' stories. It will be seen thus that all movement, whether ascending or descending, is in a counterclockwise direction, in thepresent arrangement, and that there is, in fact, room in the aisle 42 for simultaneous movement of two'columns of cars side by side, one column ascending and the other descendin and that these columns never crossv nor ecome arrows C and C ascendin and descendin respectivel v to the section in the end of the building opposite its entrance 11, along a second ramp 4, then in the direction of the arrow A along the aisle 42 on the story 2, then up the ramp 4' at the opposite end of the aisle 42 to the second half-story .3, thence following the arrow C along the gross aisle 42 and up the next ramp 4' to the second story 2, (actually to the third fioor of the building), that is to the section of the second full story which is in the same end of the building.

The car may then continue in the direction of the arrow A, climbing up to the upper stories in the same direction and along the same series of ramps. It will be seen, however, that at any time it may move along the aisles 41, 42 or 43 to a stall on any particular floor; Preferably, on the half-stories 3 of the double-unit building, movement is not along the lines of the arrows B and B, but instead, after rising along a ramp the cars willpass through the cross aisle 43 and thence in the direction of the arrows D and D to reach any particular stall on this story 3, or to move to the front section of the first or lowermost of the stories 2. In this manner movement in a counter-clockwise direction is always maintained and there is never any traffic in a reverse direction, that is to say, cars never meet within the garage.

Along the outside walls are provided a series of stalls where cars may be stored. These stalls may be defined by posts 6 so positioned as to include agiven number of cars between them, and of course serving to support the upper stories and roof. By

I proper designing these posts may be positioned just far enough from the outside walls 1 to permit a car to'be moved back of the line of posts; thus these posts 6 together with the next series of posts 61 define the aisles 42. On the half stories 3 of the double-unit building, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, cars maybe parked end to end in the center of the story, that is, at one side of each aisle 41, or long busses may be parked here, using the length of two stalls, as indicated at X in Figure 3. Posts 62 may define these stalls 51 and aisles 41, and also define the cross aisles 43.

On each of the stories and half stories the space at the inner edge is used for parking.

floor space. These beams 63 clearance, thisleaves a space of 7 feet 6 inches, less only the thickness of. the'fioor,

between the level of the story 2 and its halfstory 3. This space is sufiicient for the he1ght of most modern cars and I have therefore provided stalls 5 in this space.

This space lies between the row of columns 61 and the edge 31 or 21 of the story, as the case may be. For the stories 2 the columns 61 define the outer edge of the stalls 5, the 76 inner edge being defined by the companion columns 61 extending upward from the halfv story 3 below, and by a cross beam 63 secured to the columns 61 and lying above the roject sufliciently from the wall 22 to orm a curb against which the rear wheels of an automobile may strike. For the half-stories 3 the stalls 5 are defined by thecolumns 61 andthe wall 32 extending upward from the e flge 31, or the beam 63 lying inward there- 0 It will be clear, especially from inspection of Figure 4, for example, that this arrange ment provides stalls 5 on each story and half story which are overlapped, that is to say, cars on the story 2 in the space 5 lie immediately above the ears on the corresponding half-story 3. There is thus secured double the amount of space along this overlapping portion of the stories and half-stories as would ordinarily be provided in garages not employing overlapping stories.

This overlap is also of importance as permitting the employment of short ramps in each ascending ramp 40' lies immediately above a corresponding ascending ramp 40 for the next story above, whereas in theordinary type of building the ramps lie along the outside walls and for each story there is lost the space along one wall to accommodate the ascending ramp and the space along the other wall for the ramp leading to the story next above. Another-advantage of the overlap ed section is shown in Figure 4. The sta Is 5, if desired, may be used as private locking stalls and the cars locked in place by the owner, as, for exampxle, by means of a metal curtain 55 whic may be dra down from above to enclose the stall 5. The height of this curtain need only be sufficient to reach from the floor of the stall 5 to the half story story next thereabove, instead of reaching the entire hei ht of the ceiling of any given sto A buildingconstructed accordin to this design provides storage space for t e maxithe shortest period of time. It increases lighting and ventilation within the buildin the ceilings being high, and all outside wal s being clear for Windows. It utilizes storage space most economically and uses but a very small amount of the total floor area for internal communication, that is to say, for ramps and aisles. It provides private stalls at low cost if these are desired, and in a word, produces a building which is best adapted for its purpose and which most economically uses the ground area available.

Such a building may also be employed for terminal pur ses or for storage. When used'for terminal purposes it ermits access of a large number of cars to t e building at any given time and permits these cars to enter and leave without interference. When used'for storage of goods it permits goods of large size and light weight, requlrin large space for storage, 'to e segregate from'those oods which are heavier in prortion to their size. The large goods may stored toward the outer walls where the ceiling heiglgt is greater, whereas heavier goods may stored in the overlapping portions.

What I claim as my invention is: 1; A structure for the purpose specified having a plurality of floors disposed at halfintervals one above the other, and of less width than the overall width of the structure, the inner edge of each floor overlapping the'inner edge of the floor next thereabove to provide storage space therebetwee'n. 2. A structure for the purpose specified including enclosing walls and super osed stories extending from one wall towar s the opposite wall but having'its inner edge terminating short thereof, and half-stories at a provide a lateral aisle communicatin level intermediate said stories and having an overlapping edge'terminating within the inner edge of the stories next thereahove, to provide storage space therebetween.

3, A structure for the purpose specified having a plurality of floors disposed at halfand the half-stories next thereabove and therebelow, the ramps in each pair de arting from the inner line of the restricted c earance storage space of a given story and terminating at theinner line of the restricted clearance storage space on the half-stories next there'above and therebelow, respectively. Y

4. A structure for the purpose specified includin enclosing walls and superposed stories each extending from the front and rear walls towards the opposite wall, but terminating short thereof to form sections with their inner ed es spaced, half-stories at levels intermediate said stories and positioned between the s aced inner edges thereof, four pairs 0 aifording communication between said half story and the front section of each story next thereabove and therebelow, and the other two pairs afiordin communication a between the half-story an the rear sections of corresponding'stories, the front and rear sections of said stories being. arranged bio tween the ramps leading up and down t erefrom to adjacent half-stories, the. half-story being arranged to provide two longitudinal aisles communicating between pairs of ramps, vtwo pairs ramps leading to adjacent story sections at opposite ends but at like sides of the structure, and the half-story being. 'kewise arranged to provide alateral aisle afl'ordin communication between the two pairs o ramps leading from the half-story to the story sections at the same end of structure.

Signed at Seattle, King County, Washington, this 25th day of August, 1924.

Moss 1). EAST. 

